diff --git a/pkgs/data/fonts/dejavu-fonts/default.nix b/pkgs/data/fonts/dejavu-fonts/default.nix
index 3c38be90ded4..27513467c762 100644
--- a/pkgs/data/fonts/dejavu-fonts/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/data/fonts/dejavu-fonts/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-{fetchurl, stdenv, fontforge, perl, fontconfig, FontTTF}:
+{fetchurl, fetchFromGitHub, stdenv, fontforge, perl, fontconfig, FontTTF}:
 
-let version = "2.35" ; in
+let version = "2.37" ; in
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "dejavu-fonts-${version}";
@@ -8,17 +8,19 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   buildInputs = [fontforge perl FontTTF];
 
   unicodeData = fetchurl {
-    url = http://www.unicode.org/Public/6.1.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt ;
-    sha256 = "1bd6zkzvxfnifrn5nh171ywk7q56sgk8gdvdn43z9i53hljjcrih";
+    url = http://www.unicode.org/Public/9.0.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt ;
+    sha256 = "13zfannnr6sa6s27ggvcvzmh133ndi38pfyxsssvjmw2s8ac9pv8";
   };
   blocks = fetchurl {
-    url = http://www.unicode.org/Public/6.1.0/ucd/Blocks.txt;
-    sha256 = "0w0vkb09nrlc6mrhqyl9npszdi828afgvhvlb1vs5smjv3h8y3dz";
+    url = http://www.unicode.org/Public/9.0.0/ucd/Blocks.txt;
+    sha256 = "04xyws1prlcnqsryq56sm25dlfvr3464lbjjh9fyaclhi3a2f8b1";
   };
 
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = "mirror://sourceforge/dejavu/dejavu-fonts-${version}.tar.bz2";
-    sha256 = "1xdbi4llrq1qbkd73352ibrfqcbz93dww8hab216qz5szd95yvv4";
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "dejavu-fonts";
+    repo = "dejavu-fonts";
+    rev = "version_${stdenv.lib.replaceStrings ["."] ["_"] version}";
+    sha256 = "1xknlg2h287dx34v2n5r33bpcl4biqf0cv7nak657rjki7s0k4bk";
   };
 
   buildFlags = "full-ttf";
@@ -41,6 +43,22 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
 
   meta = {
+    description = "A typeface family based on the Bitstream Vera fonts";
+    longDescription = ''
+      The DejaVu fonts are TrueType fonts based on the BitStream Vera fonts,
+      providing more styles and with greater coverage of Unicode.
+
+      This package includes DejaVu Sans, DejaVu Serif, DejaVu Sans Mono, and
+      the TeX Gyre DejaVu Math font.
+    '';
+    homepage = http://dejavu-fonts.org/wiki/Main_Page;
+
+    # Copyright (c) 2003 by Bitstream, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
+    # Copyright (c) 2006 by Tavmjong Bah. All Rights Reserved.
+    # DejaVu changes are in public domain
+    # See http://dejavu-fonts.org/wiki/License for details
+    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.free;
+
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
   };
 }